Tufting machine



'Nov. 11, 1952' D. BROWN TUFTING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet- 1 Filed March29, 1950 DAV/P BROWN INVENTOR ATTORNEY Nov. 11, 1952 D. BROWN 2,617,230

TUFTING MACHINE DAV/V BROWN INVENTOR Y ATTORNEY NOW 11, 1952 BROWN2,617,230

TUFTING MACHINE Filed March 29, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet- 5 Fl G 5 INVENTORfl/ww ATTORN EY Patented Nov. 11, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICETUFTIN G MACHINE David Brown, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application March 29, 1950, Serial No. 152,627 1 Claim. (01. 45-438)This invention relates to a machine for upholstering furniture andparticularly for the production of tufted cushions, seats and the backsfor sofas, studio couches and the like.

In the art of upholstering furniture it is customary to compress thematerial at given points from the top and bottom of the material andthen tying the material together by applying a button on top and abutton on the bottom at the point of compression and tying theindividual buttons by hand.

An object of this invention is to provide a machine whereby upper andlower button members are gripped and carried toward each other bymagnetic grip members which are arranged to be moved toward or from eachother and whereby, when the magnetic grip members are forcibly broughttogether, the upper and lower parts of the button are clinched orassembled in unitary relation and thereby hold the upholstering materialin the desired relation.

Another object of this invention is to modify an upholstery tuftingmachine by securing apertured positioning guideways to the lower portionof the tufting machine, the apertures being in alignment with the buttontubes in the tufting machine, and to provide a roller mounted portablepress having magnetic plungers adapted to grip and hold coacting buttonelements, the press having means whereby the magnetic plungers arealigned by the positioning apertures with the button tubes, and havingmeans for moving the plungers toward each other, whereby the buttonelements are pressed into assembled relation to hold the fabric sectionstogether.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention will behereinafter more particularly described, and the combination andarrangement of parts will be shown in the accompanying drawings andpointed out in the claim which form part of this specification,

Reference will now be had to the drawings, wherein like numerals ofreference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, inwhich:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of an upholstery tufting machine to which myinvention is applied, both the tufting base plate and the slidable plateof the tufting machine being broken away to show a top plan View of aperforated late and guicleway forming plates.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of a portable foot press having upper andlower magnetic grip members for assembling and clinching metallic buttonmembers to hold the upholstering materials held in tufting relation inthe upholstery tufting machine shown in Figurel.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the magnetic press, the press framebeing partly broken away to show operating levers,

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of the tufting machine shown, thesection being taken on line 4-4 in Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a central cross-sectional view of a motor driven rotarycutter for cutting out tubular openings in which the button elements arepositioned for assembly.

Figure 6 is a central cross-sectional view of two coacting metallicbutton elements held in alignment by the magnetic grip members shown inFigure 3.

Figure 7 is an assembly view of the two button elements, shown in Figure6 and in gripping relation with fabric sections.

Figure 8 is a central cross-sectional View of two coacting metallicbutton elements, the lower element being a washer.

Figure 9 is an assembly view of the two button elements shown in Figure8 and in gripping relation with fabric sections.

Figure 10 is a view of a fragmentary portion of the rotary cutter shownin Figure 5, on an enlarged scale.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the numeral I0 indicatesan upholstery tufting machine having my invention applied thereto. Thetufting machine In comprises a base plate I I having hollow tuftingtubes I2 mounted thereon in linearly spaced-apart relation. The tuftingtubes l2 are positioned in rectangularly spacedapart relation but may bearranged in diamond shaped form, etc. At each end of the base plate I Iare two elongated guide rods I3 having stop collars l4 positioned inspaced-apart relation from the base plate. A plate I5 is slidablymounted on the guide rods I3 and when the tufted material is compressed,the slidable plate rests on the stop collars I4.

The base plate II is pivotally mounted on a portable frame comprisingupright legs I6 which converge at their upper ends in bearings 18through which extend stub shafts I9 fixed to the base plate II. At theirlower ends, the legs I6 are connected by pipes II extending the fulllength of the machine. Lock pins 20 pass through the bearings I8 andextend into the stub shafts l9 and maintain the base plate in fixedhorizontal position. The legs I B are preferably mounted on swivelcasters 2|.

Figure 4 shows a portion of the tufting machine HI having fillingmaterial 22 compressed around tufts 23 formed in fabric 24 and 25, shownin cross-section. Instead of following the usual practice of usingbreakable twine for manually tying tufting buttons on opposite sides ofthe tufted fabric, I employ a portable button press 38 for interlockingupper and lower metal button elements 3| and 32 on opposite sides oftufted fabrics 24 and 25 to produce tufted upholstery in which the tuftsare not separable because the interlocked button elements cannot breakapart.

The portable button press comprises an inverted V-shaped upright rearwall having integral horizontal base extensions 38 movably supported onswivel casters 31.

The button press 30 also comprises an integral horizontal guide arm 38positioned above the base extensions 36. At the free end of the arm, 38is mounted a positioning or pilot pin 48 having an integral collar 4| onwhich is a coil spring 42 which normally lowers the positioning pin belowthearm38.

A link 43 is pivotally mounted ona bearing pivot 44 and has a slottedfront end 45 in engagement with a pin 46 at the upper end of thepositioning pin 48. At its rear end, the link '43- is connected by a pin41 to a link 48 which is pivotally mounted on a bearing pin 49. The link48 has a slotted rear end 50 where it is pivotally connected to a pin 5|at the lower end of a vertical link 52 having a lever 53 suitablyconnected thereto at its upper end.

The button press 30 has an arm 55 at its upper elevation providing amounting for a vertically movable plunger 56 and an arm 51 at a lowerelevation providing a mounting for a vertically movable plunger 58.

A foot-pedal 6D is pivotally mounted on a bearing pin 6| suitablysupported at the lower elevation of the press. A lever 62 has its lowerend pivotally connected on a pivot pin 63 at the rear portion of thefoot-pedal 60.

The upper end of the lever 62 has a pivot pin 64 movable in a slottedend 65 of a lever 66 which is pivotally mounted on a bearing pin 61. Thefront end of the lever 66 is slotted and carries a pivot pin 68extending from the upper end of the plunger 56.

In operation of the combined upholstery tufting mechanism, the operatorpulls down the lever 53 to raise the positioning or pilot pin 49. Theoperator then pushes the button press 38 toward the tufting machine ||lso that the guide arm 38 on the press moves between two guide bars 10 onthe tufting machine. The guide arm 38 and the guide bars 18 have pointedor V-shaped front ends to facilitate entrance of the guide arm betweenthe guide bars. This guides the button press in direction of the guideapertures 1| in guideways I2 in a positioning plate 13 on the tuftingmachine.

The operator then releases the lever 53 to permit the positioning pin 40to snap into a guide aperture The plungers 56 and 58 are then inalignment with one of the tufting tubes or button tubes |2 on thetufting machine Ill. The operator presses down the foot pedal 60 andmoves the plungers 58 and 58 simultaneously toward each other toassemble the upper and lower button elements 3| and 32. The operatorthen lowers the lever 53 to raise the positioning pin 48 and moves thebutton press H) to the next guide aperture H and repeats the buttoninterlocking or riveting operation.

It is to be noted that the spacing of the guide 4 apertures H in theplate 13 corresponds to the spacing of the tufting tubes l2 in thetufting machine It]. It is also to be noted that the upper and lowermagnetic plungers 56 and 58 hold the upper and lower metal buttonelements 3| and 32 for the assembling operation. While the plungermagnets may be made of permanently magnetized or highly magnetic metal,it is to be noted that the magnetic effect may be produced byelectromagnetic means.

A hand carried electric drill having a chuck 15, Fig. 5, supports ahollow rotary cutter 18 hav-- ing a tapering knife-shaped lower edge 11,Fig. 10. The hollow cutter has an outlet aperture 14 at its upper endthrough which the waste material cut from the fabric is discharged. Thewaste material falls into a funnel 18 which is secured at the upper endof a hollow sleeve 19 in which the rotary cutter 16 is housed. In thefunnel is a coil spring 80, the upper end of which terminates in aninverted cup-shaped closure member 8|. The closure member is verticallyslidably mounted in a sleeve 82, the lower portion of which is securedsuch as by soldering, to the funnel 18.

The operation of the chuck I5 and cutter 16 is controlled by the buttontubes l2 on the tufting machine Hi. The rotary cutter 16 perforates theupholstery fabric to receive the shanks of the button elements. Thisperforating operation is done before the button press 38 is brought intoaction. It is to be noted that, as shown in Figures 6 and '7, the upperbutton element 3| has a hollow shank 85. It is also to be noted that thebutton element 32 has a centrally and upwardly pointed shank spreader86. When the button elements 3| and 32 are brought together, the shankspreader 86 spreads the lower edge portion of the shank outwardly so asto engage the peripheral edge defining the central aperture 87. Thisoperation produces the assembled metallic cloth covered or plasticcomposition covered tufting button 88.

As shown in Figures 8 and 9, there is provided modified metallic buttonelements 3| and 89. The button element 89 is in the form of a washer andis supported at the upper portion of a hollow casing 90 which has ashank spreader 9|. The spreader 9| spreads the lower edge portion of theshank 85 outwardly into engagement with the fabric section 25. Thisoperation produces the assembled metallic button 92.

The Washer 89 is used when the tufted material 25 is coarse, such asburlap, cardboard or wood. The button 88 is used when both tuftingmaterials are of finished tapestry materials, that is, when both sidesof the tufted materials are face materials and have buttons to match thecolors, etc.

In operation, the base plate I and the slidable plate |5 are held intufting position by a G-clamp 93, well known in the art.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described and illustratedthe preferred embodiment of my invention, but it will be understood thatvarious changes and modifications can be made therein without departingfrom the spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claim.

I claim:

The combination of an upholstery tufting device for pressing twocoacting metallic button ele-'.

ments into interlocked relation with one another to hold tufted fabricsections together including a base plate with a series of button tubesdepending therefrom and arranged in parallel rows spaced from oneanother and a horizontal positioning plate means having aperturesarranged correspondingly to the respective button tubes with guidewaysextending along beside the rows of apertures, and of a press device forpressing the button elements into interlocked relation with one anotherincluding plunger elements vertically alignable with the button tubesand a horizontal guide arm extendable between the guideways of thetufting device horizontal positioning plate means and having pinsadapted to releasably engage one at a time the respective positioningapertures of the positioning plate means, one of said devices beinghorizontally adjustable with respect to the other, whereby the pressplungers may be readily aligned with the button tubes. DAVID BROWN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 Number Name Date 619,685 Freschl Feb. 14, 1899649,929 Gwinn May 22, 1900 1,931,202 McRoskey Oct. 17, 1933 2,415,769Stenson Feb. 11, 1947

